Dam



Patented Oct. 6, 1925.

UNI-TED STATES JAMEs w. NORTH. or 'mT'rsBUR-GH;PNSYLVANIA.

Application fi1ed'January127, ;1925. Serial' No. 5,062;

To all whom't .may owocem:

Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny 'and State of Pennsylvaniaa have invented certain new and. useful Improvements in Dams,ofV which the following is a specifioation.

This invention relates to dams and more in particular to controllable `dams ;used especially in connection with` canal-locks and navigable rivers i Onev of he principal objects of vthis in-z venti'on is vto provide a dam having. a plu- 'rality of gates which may be i operated simultaneouslyV from a central pointlocated on the ,bankpof a/river or canal. Another object is to providemeans whereby sarid:

gates maybe operated with the least amount of power to overcome the resistanceof water; A further object is to'providea dam which,v

vwhen open, offers an unobstructed passage to "theflow offwater or to navigation. Ad-

ditional features and advantages of this] 'g inventi'on will appear from the following description considered'in connection .with the accompanyingv drawing formingl part: of this application'and in which Fig; 1 isa perspectifve view showing di'- ao'ra'mmat-ically `'the preferred 1 emb'odiment Vo lmy inventlon.

Eig. 2? a top planview of the construction'shown in Fiig. '1.1

Fig' is a side feleva'tion'of adam-gate unit in its ferect position.

Fig. 4 is a front "ellevation of, the ere'cted dam-gate turnedV about ninety degrees.

Fi'g; 5 is a fractlonal top plan-vlew showing the dam-gates in theiropen or collapsed'v Vposltlon. I i

Fig. 6 is a fragmentarry Vv1ew`; showlng the preferred method of connecting a V,(ilam-gate with its supportingbrace Fig. 7 i detail Vof *my invention.

Fig; 8 isla'side'yelevation of the hinge of'`v the supporting brace.

Referringto the drawing, it `has been assumed that a Canal-lock *A is to beprovidedwith a dain of my' invention.` AsV shown. the dam is oomposed of a plurality;

of Vindividual gates properly disposed to forma continuous daan vwhen in their raised position. Each gate .is composed of a horizontal turn-table 1l having a central pivot 2. of suitable tdesignjto'facilitate the easy :ro-

is a view showing `a'construotiveV i tation offthe turn-table and overcome what- Be it known that I, JAMES W. NoirrH, a= citizen of the United States, resldmg art:

ever'liffting action which may prevail, ow-

lngzto the immersion `of the gate in the water. Collapsibly mounted on the cross- `member 3, 'fastened ion the top of the-turnztable, is a dam-gate 4 secured to said cross- 'by means of a'U-bolt 7 secured thereto and engaging a 'clevis 8 mounted at theupper end' 'of saidibrace. 'Thelower end thereof rests upon''a'transverse tie 9, bolted to the bottom lof thev river lock;l and is secured theretobyimeans'of a hinge-connection 10 having a stop-111g 47: which permits'the :collapsing. :of said' 'brace in' :the :same vdire'ction as the gate only.

V'Securely vmounted on :top of thev turntable, and preferably disposed at an angle of-45 degrees with theigate, is a radial arm e11 .having a clevis 12 at its outer end `by means. of which vit may be secured to an endless operatihg'fchain' 13 which permits a 90 degree rotationof the turn-table on its axis, that is,until. the erected vgate 'occupies a plane Sparallel: with thefiowof the water. When'so rota'tedit' 'will be seen from Fgs. 45and G''thatvthe 'gaitefiwi'll bear against .and be parallel' .w'ithl` the lbrace 16.

Positionedat the topof the gate and sub- .stantially in: Vertical alignment with the .i pivo't "2,2 is' a. swivelJ-ring 14. rotatably w mounted? on 'a'lmetal plate 15 secured to the gatezb'y means of the screws 16. To this swivel-ring" is attached the gate' lifting chain'l'.

The rotation-of the turn-tables of the sev- -eral-.unitstis performed simultaneously by means of 'the'gendless Operating chain 13 which`l vruns' along :the bottom .of ithe iriverlock :andfwhi'ch is guidedv by 'means of 'the 'horizontal sh'eave 18, the two Vertical sheaves '1'9 and '205 loosely mountedfoni a 'stationa'ryfshaft 21', and operated by 'the -drive sheave 22 se'curedfon the 'shaft of the motor or engir'ieWfiv 'The lifting'andjlowering of the v'gates of the several units is alsodone simulta'- neously. by Vmea'nsjof a 'system Vof chains and sheaves. f As "illustrated diagrammatically in"Fig.-"1, especially; the lifting chain l17 is .connected to *eaoihlof the swivel-'rings "14 vand passed over a sheave 24 placed on top of the lock-bank and then carried downward around a second sheave 25, stretched across the bottom of the lock and guided by the sheave 26 positioned on the opposite bank of the lock; thence it is wound around a drum 27 freely mounted on the shaft 28 of the motor, or engine, 29. This drum may be connected to the motor shaft by means of any suitable coupling device, such as the claw-clutch 30 which is shown in Fig. 1 as being slidably operable by means of the lever 31 rockably mounted on a bracket 32 secured to the frame of the motor. Drum 27 is called the gate-liftingdrum because its function is to raise the gates from their collapsed position.

The lowering or collapsing of said gates is effected by means of a chain 33 which is connected to the swivel-ring of the end-gate at the right hand side, in Fig. 1. This chain is led downwardly and passed under and around a sheave 34 whence it is led upwardly over the gate-lowering-drum 35, also freely mounted on the motor shaft 28 and engageable therewith by means of the clutch 30 and the lever 31.

In cases where the height of the folding gates 4 is greater' than the radius of their turn-tables, it becomes necessary to provide between the last gate unit and the wall of the river-lock a special side-gate to close up the additional space required by the projecting portion of the last gate when collapsed. In the installation shown in Figs. 1 and 2 it will be seen that the gates must becollapsed toward the right bank of the lock and that the side-gate will have to be located at the righttside also. This gate is composed of a gate-panel 36 hingedly mounted along the right hand wall of the river-lock by means of vertically alined hinges 37. The operation of this side-gate is preferably performed automatically by and simultaneously with the turn-tables by using the mechanism shown in Fig. 2 and which consists of a gate opening chain 38 having one end attached to the side-gate at 39 and the other end attach'ed to the edge` of the adj acent turn-table at 40. This chain is properly guided by the two-horizontal sheaves 41 and 42 suitably mounted on the bottom of the lock. The closing of the sidegate is efiected in a similar manner by using a second chain 43 having one end fastened on the opposite side of the side-gate, at 44, and the other end secured to` the turn-table at 45. A sheave 46 is used to guide said chain. Suitable sealing-strips 48 are also suggested in the drawing to reduce the leakage of water between the closed gates.

The operation of my dam is as follows: Assuming that the gates be in the erect, or closed, position required to impound the water in the lock and that it be desired to open the dam to let a ship go through said lock, the operator will start the motor 23 in the proper direction .to cause the operating chain 13 to rotate the turn-tables a quarter of a turn in the counter-clockwise direction indicated in Fig. 2 by the curved arrows, that is,'until the downstream sides of the gates bear against the braces 6 and the gates run parallel with the direction of flow of the water. The so rotated gates will be held in their erect position by the upward and backward tension eXerted by the lifting chain 17 on them and the braces 6, which latter, as stated before can only be collapsed forward like the gates owing to the stop-lugs 47.

After the water level in the lock has been lowered to that of the down-stream level of the river, the open gates are collapsed onto their respective turn-tables by slackening thev chain 17 and applying power to the lowering chain 33 by means of the operating lever 31, the clutch 30 and the drum 35, thereby offering an unobstructed passage for the ship in the lock.

It will also be noted that the side-gate 36 will be rotated counter-clockwise by the similar rotation of the turn-tables, owing to the chain and sheave mechanism used.

To close a lock, the Operations to be performed are, of course, the reverse of the ones just described, that is, the gates are first raised by applying power to the lifting-chain 17 by means of the lifting-drum 27 which has been connected to the motorshaft 28` by the clutch 30 through the instrumentality of the lever 31; The clock- Wise rotaton of the turn-table into closed position is now performed by the chain 13, driven by the motor 23, which operation will also close the side-gate 36.

Obviously, the inventi'on is not. limited or restricted to the precise andexact details of the construction as illustrated and described, because it is susceptible of a variety of .embodiment-s, and many minor mechanical changes may be made without in any way departing from the scope and field of this invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:- i

1. A dam comprising a turn-table and a gate collapsibly mounted thereon, and collapsible means for Vassisting said gate to Withstand the hydrostatic pressure imposed thereon and adapted to limit the rotation of said turn-table.

2. A dam comprising a plurality of units disposed in a row, each of said units consisting of a turn-table and a gate collapsibly mounted thereon, and means for simultaneously rotating said turn-tables.

3. A dam comprising a plurality of units disposed in a row, each of said units consisting of .a turn-table and a gate collapsi- 'bly mounted thercon, and unitary means for simultaneously rotating said turntables.

4. A. dam comprising a plurality of units disposed in a row, each of said units consisting of a turn-table and a gate collapsibly mounted thereon, and means for simultaneously collapsing and erecting said gates.

5. A dam comprising a plurality of units disposed in a row, each of said units consisting of a turn-table and a gate collapsibly mounted thercon, and unitary means for simultaneously collapsing or erecting said gates.

6. A dam comprising a plurality of units disposed in a row, each of said units consisting of a turn-table and a gate collapsibly mounted thereon; unitary means for simultaneously collapsing' or erecting said gates, and means for` assisting'said gates to Withstand the hydrostatic pressure imposed thereon, and adapted to limit the amount of rotation of said turn-tables.

7 A dam comprising a plurality of units disposed in a row, each of said units consisting of a turn-table and a gate collapsibly mounted thereon; a side-gate positioned at one end of said row and adapted to swing on a Vertical axis; unitary means for simultaneously rotating said turntables; unitary means for simultaneously collapsing or erecting said gates, and means for Operating said side-gate synchronously With and by said turn-tables.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JAMES W. NORTH. 

